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  • Former Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad has said that Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 did not crash and its current whereabouts is known to the CIA.
    Termed as the biggest aviation mystery of the century, the Malaysian airlines flight number MH370 simply disappeared into thin air in the wee hours of 8 MarchReuters
  • The bodies of up to 80 MH17 victims still remain in the crash site, officials have said.
    MH17 exploded mid-air and came down in flames killing all the passengers onboard on 17 July. The aircraft was hit by a missile belonging to the separatist groups in the Eastern side of Ukraine.Reuters
  • Police on Tuesday launched a huge raid in search for South Korea's fugitive billionaire, Yoo Byung-un, wanted in connection to the Sewol ferry disaster in April.
    The sinking of the Sewol Ship in South Korea has also retained headlines throughout much of the year. It occurred on the morning of 16 April 2014 when the ferry carrying 476 people.Reuters

The year 2014 has been a year full of interesting events with memorable occasions such as the Football World cup, Sochi event and many others. But the year will be more remembered for the all the tragedies that took place.

As the year draws to a close, here is a look-back at the top three tragedies of 2014, so that we can offer some solidarity to those who have been affected by the mishaps:

MH370 Mystery

Who doesn't know this? Termed as the biggest aviation mystery of the century, the Malaysian airlines flight number MH370 simply disappeared into thin air in the wee hours of 8 March, prompting a long international search rescue operation that never actually found out what exactly happened to the ill-fated aircraft.

MH370 mysteriously vanished midair from the civilian radar while flying between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing on 8 March with 239 people onboard. Almost 9 months later, the search over the southern Indian Ocean, where experts believe the plane possibly crashed, is yet to yield any tangible results even as the Malaysian government has been criticised by the passengers' family members of hiding some information from them.

It is still unknown why the flight suddenly turned off its communications, changed its course dramatically and flew low. Yet, it is extremely unlikely that America's military intelligence eyes would have really missed the plane, many analysts have said. The incident has prompted various conspiracy theories ranging from American military's involvement, Russian conspiracy, Alien abduction, Diego Garcia targeting etc.

The MH17 Downing

Even as the earlier Malaysian Airlines tragedy continued to occupy the headlines, another airplane - belonging to the same airlines - MH17 exploded midair and came down in flames killing all the passengers onboard on 17 July. The aircraft was hit by a missile belonging to the separatist groups in the eastern Ukraine.

All the 298 passengers including two infants on board the Malaysia Airlines plane were killed, after it was allegedly shot down by, as Ukraine authorities claim, the separatist groups.

Sinking of Sewol

The sinking of the Sewol Ship in South Korea has also occupied headlines throughout much of the year. It occurred on the morning of 16 April 2014, when the ferry carrying 476 people, - mostly school children - was on its way from Inchean to Jeju.

A total of 304 passengers died in the calamity, which became one of the most high profile tragic events in South Korean history. Almost 250 of the casualties were high school students on their way to a field trip.

The captain of the ship, Lee Joon-Seok, had been criticised collectively by the members of the South Korean public. Even President Park Guen-hye termed the entire crew's actions "akin to murder". On 11 November, the captain was sentenced to 36 years in jail.